Is there a way I can force the game to run 2560x1600?
Perhaps steam launch options? The highest I have is 1920x1200.

Not a big deal, but I would like to be able to do so.

Thanks.

DaracSjet

03-26-2010, 11:27 PM

No we don't support higher than 1920x1200 sorry.

Mr_Fayce

03-27-2010, 01:38 AM

Haven't seen many games that support higher then 1920x1200

silverwolf82587

04-02-2010, 01:23 PM

Hello again,

Mr. Fayce a lot of games support 2560x1600. Some even support eyefinity. Eyefinity would be pretty neat for this game (But probably hard as hell).

Is it hard to implement higher resolutions? A lot of games have editable .ini files.

Anyway thanks for an awesome game.

DaracSjet

04-02-2010, 01:35 PM

It's not hard to get it to run in higher resolutions however as the resolutions get bigger you have to supply higher res textures for fonts and background images for the higher resolutions to really make a difference and look right from a design standpoint.

Asmor

04-03-2010, 03:12 AM

I must say, had I known that this game can't run at my LCD monitor's native resolution (2048x1152), that would have been a deal breaker for me and I wouldn't have bought the game.

There's no excuse for limiting the resolution like this. You know what's even worse than scaling raster graphics past 100% (which appears to be the reason the game is limiting the resolution)? Not running at an LCD screen's native resolution.

A pixel's a pixel. The only effect that limiting this is going to achieve is to make everything look equally bad, as opposed to just the raster graphics.

GamerSam

04-04-2010, 03:51 AM

Yea I would have liked 2560x1600 too, I posted about this on the developers forums, back when the game was released.

Haven't seen many games that support higher then 1920x1200

Actually pretty much all games released in recent years do support 2560x1600, it's 16:10 so it's not an exotic aspect ratio either. I have only encountered a few that doesn't support this resolution.

nraymond

04-18-2010, 07:40 AM

No we don't support higher than 1920x1200 sorry.

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 2343BW LCD which is 2048x1152 (16:9) resolution, and you support a 16:9 resolution very close to it, 1920x1080, but it would be really great to get the game to run at my monitor's native res... running it at a lower res scaled up makes it look a little fuzzy.

nraymond

04-18-2010, 07:43 AM

Haven't seen many games that support higher then 1920x1200

On the contrary Mr_Fayce, I think the balance is in favor of games that do support higher resolutions, at least when you look at both commercial and indie titles. I own over 70 games, but let me take a survey of some of the indie titles, which tend to do a poorer job of supporting all the monitor resolutions, and break them down in terms of whether they support my monitor's native resolution of 2048x1152 or not:

It's not hard to get it to run in higher resolutions however as the resolutions get bigger you have to supply higher res textures for fonts and background images for the higher resolutions to really make a difference and look right from a design standpoint.

You probably don't have to do much work to support 2048x1152 (16:9) though, right? After all, it's very close to both 1920x1080 (16:9) and 1920x1200 (16:10).

DaracSjet

04-18-2010, 02:25 PM

You probably don't have to do much work to support 2048x1152 (16:9) though, right? After all, it's very close to both 1920x1080 (16:9) and 1920x1200 (16:10).

This is true but it's a question of where you stop. There will always be a resolution close to the highest one we support. Our decision to stop at 1920x1200 was because up to this resolution covers over 95% of steam users if I remember correctly. The remaining users running on the highest res with full AA shouldn't really notice the difference.

Mr_Fayce

04-18-2010, 09:49 PM

On the contrary Mr_Fayce, I think the balance is in favor of games that do support higher resolutions, at least when you look at both commercial and indie titles. I own over 70 games, but let me take a survey of some of the indie titles, which tend to do a poorer job of supporting all the monitor resolutions, and break them down in terms of whether they support my monitor's native resolution of 2048x1152 or not:

Heh, the funny thing is I own all of those games... And didn't even notice.

-_-

Goteki-45

04-19-2010, 02:57 PM

No resolution options (runs at a fixed lower resolution):
Braid
World of Goo

Resolutions for each of these can be set via command line option (Braid) or editing a configuration file (World of Goo). I'm not sure how high they can be set and still function, however.

nraymond

04-21-2010, 10:45 AM

This is true but it's a question of where you stop. There will always be a resolution close to the highest one we support. Our decision to stop at 1920x1200 was because up to this resolution covers over 95% of steam users if I remember correctly. The remaining users running on the highest res with full AA shouldn't really notice the difference.

Thanks for writing back. On the PC I realize it is difficult, since there aren't even just two ratios, there are seven - 16:9, 15:9, 16:10, 14:9, 3:2, 4:3, and 5:4. TVs are just 4:3 or 16:9, so compared to a console, it can be tricky to support the PC properly. I've noticed that the better PC games have either a vector UI or they appear to just have a high-res UI that they scale to whatever resolution/ratio a user has, but obviously that requires more planning than just targeting the most common resolutions/ratios.

According to the March 2010 Steam Hardware Survey, this is what they've sampled for primary display resolutions:

It's rather remarkable that there are supposedly 12.36% with 1024x768 (14"/15" LCD) screens... if that statistic is accurate, I can't imagine that Steam demographic actually buys many games at all. I also find it rather humorous that a 5:4 ratio is still the most common (1280x1024, 17"/19" LCD, and a ratio that never should have been created). But yes, according to the March survey, I'm in that 3.42% who has an "other" resolution. (You might consider though that the demographic who has "other" resolutions is probably also the demographic who buys more games on Steam, and so it might actually be economically worthwhile to cater to those people specifically since it could positively influence sales to the people with the most disposable income.)

If there is a way now (or is a way in the future) to edit a configuration file to set a resolution such as 2048x1152, I'd like to know about it, even if it isn't fully tested/supported.

nraymond

04-21-2010, 10:57 AM

Resolutions for each of these can be set via command line option (Braid) or editing a configuration file (World of Goo). I'm not sure how high they can be set and still function, however.

The other big problem with supporting any resolution is we simply don't have the hardware to test it on. If we claimed that we support these massive resolutions and then many of our users then say there are bugs associated with them we either simply couldn't fix the problems, leaving unhappy customers, or we'd have to spend hundreds of dollars on a high resolution screen to fix it which would equate to the profit of hundreds of sales for our $10 game.

nraymond

04-27-2010, 09:37 PM

The other big problem with supporting any resolution is we simply don't have the hardware to test it on. If we claimed that we support these massive resolutions and then many of our users then say there are bugs associated with them we either simply couldn't fix the problems, leaving unhappy customers, or we'd have to spend hundreds of dollars on a high resolution screen to fix it which would equate to the profit of hundreds of sales for our $10 game.

Understood, thanks for the explanation, and I appreciate you wanting to fully test your product to make sure it's the best for your customers.

It doesn't help that LCD monitor pricing is kind of silly... 2560x1600 (16:10) for $1100, 2560x1440 (16:9) for $1000, yet 2048x1152 (16:9) for $200! On the plus side, with the 2560x1600 display you could test that resolution and every one below it, and it would make coding/art more productive since you could fit that much more on the screen at once... but yes assuming Valve is taking 30% of your $10, so you net $7 per sale, that is about 158 copies of the game for a 2560x1600 display (but only 29 copies for a 2048x1152 display... wink wink!) Alternatively, you could consider doing beta-testers for the resolutions you can't test yourself... I know I'd be willing to test out 2048x1152 for you, and I'm sure you could find some people to test out 2560x1440 and 2560x1600. Just a thought.

Anyway, I have been playing Shatter in a 1920x1080 window and enjoying it quite a lot, and it may perhaps be one of the most fun 'Breakout' style games I've ever played (and I've played a lot!) Thanks for making it!!!

Goteki-45

05-01-2010, 04:39 PM

It doesn't help that LCD monitor pricing is kind of silly... 2560x1600 (16:10) for $1100, 2560x1440 (16:9) for $1000, yet 2048x1152 (16:9) for $200!

Panel types play a big role in prices. Two monitors with the same/similar resolutions will vary quite a bit if one is using a TN panel and one is using PVA.

tombonez

06-30-2010, 04:17 PM

Would be great if you'd at least let us force a higher resolution, even without your support, making games go into a lower resolution always sends my second monitor into a frenzy :(